41S DH. yilOHTT ox SCLEROTIL'M STiriTATUM, 



the growth of this fungus exist in the burrows or excavations 

 formed by the white ants. The natives state that it is occasion- 

 ally to be met with in dark crevices^ and in the recesses of rocks 

 and caves : my experience does not confirm this latter fact as yet ; 

 and the specimens I have now the honour of submitting were all 

 procured from the Avhite-ant hill, ov pnttiL 



These fungoid growths are only met with in old and deserted 

 ant-hills, and frequently after the insects have become winged: 

 they are found only in the peripheral and more superficial caverns, 

 springing from their roof, occasionally from the floor, never from 

 the cells occupied by the ants themselves. Some grow with long 

 stalks, others are sessile ; in those having stalks, they can in a few 

 be traced beneath the soil, while the sessile ones seem simply 

 to lie over the soiL 



Messrs. Currey and TIanbury are in unison with Mr. Berkeley 

 in the opinion that the Piittu Manga is of fungoid growth : of this 

 there can be no doubt, from the habitat and structure, as also from 

 the fact that it attains its greatest perfection during, or imme- 

 diately after, the rains ; and it is possible that further research 

 during this particular period may tend to the discovery of a per- 

 fect specimen, with the organs of fructification fully developed. 



The present specimens were procured in the Coimbatore and 

 [Malabar districts, in October 1865, and were removed, some 

 in sitit attached to the clod of earth, and others loose, from tlie 

 interior of several white-ant hills, within the caverns of which 

 some were found growing in clusters of six or more, hanging each 

 by a separate stalk, and others simply overlying the floors of the 

 cells, without stalks. Those taken up with the clod of earth soon 

 lost moisture, and crumbled to dust. These, on removal, were not 

 quite so black in colour, and have shrunk considerably in size ; 

 and I should say that they are one-third smaller now than when 

 taken out of the white-ant hill. 



They take on a variety of forms, being oval, oblong, pyriform, 

 irregularly round, &c. The external rind is black and slightly 

 wrinkled ; on cutting into it, the interior is found to be white and 

 pithy, and is compared by tlie natives to the kernel of a tender 

 cocoa-nut. It is tasteless and inodorous. 



The MalayalumYythianSjWho are familiar with the Puttu Manga, 

 believe it to be manufactured by the insects themselves, by a kind 

 of accretive process, and that snakes are very fond of it and de- 

 vour it greedily. Snake-charmers collect the Puttii Manga and 

 take it round for sale, and they then give out that they keep a 



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